Favorite New Fall Show Poll – Up All Night

This week, we at CliqueClack are asking you to vote for your favorite new fall shows to watch and for those that you would recommend to others. The winter hiatus is the perfect time to catch up on new shows you didn’t initially watch. Our first Clacker’s pick is Julia’s for Up All Night!

When I initially decided to watch Up All Night, I did not expect to find it nearly as charming as I do. I thought it would be fun and enjoyable, but I was less a-quiver at the mere prospect of it and more just excited to see something Maya Rudolph was in. And while Maya Rudolph is probably the best part of this show (when isn’t she the best part of a show?), Up All Night has completely exceeded my expectations and, although New Girl occasionally gives it a run for its money, has secured its place as my pick for best new comedy of the fall season.

The premise of Up All Night – dealing with new baby stress — is a fairly well-trod one, but there are enough twists and turns in the plot to make it feel completely new. Yes, Reagan (Christina Applegate) and Chris (Will Arnett) are two new parents struggling to balance their new family life with their old childless, job-based existence, but instead of the old clichés of Regan giving up her high-powered career, it’s Chris who ends up being the proud stay-at-home dad. Their relationship isn’t strained or cartoony, there are no eye rolls to the camera or cliched sexist stereotypes, but instead they have a completely realistic marriage that straddles the line perfectly between antagonistic teasing and loving acceptance of each other, quirks and all. Reagan does stress about not being there for her daughter, but she isn’t a workaholic, or absent, or tortured. She’s a competent, modern woman who’s good at her job and a good mother, someone who’s secure enough that, despite the understandable motherly pangs, proudly manages her life. And while Ava, Regan’s boss who is something like an alternate dimension Oprah, could easily be a complete caricature, Maya Rudolph manages to somehow make her three-dimensional and completely understandable while being completely, utterly ridiculous.

The tone and humor reminds me a lot of the first season of Modern Family before it got hokey and flat; it’s mostly warm and familiar instead of laugh-out-loud funny. But unlike shows like Modern Family that lean, in my opinion, too heavily on cheap sentimentality and Full House-esque shenanigans that are way too “aw, shucks,” stylistically speaking, Up All Night has a fair amount of ridiculous gags that mean that at least once an episode, you’re laughing out loud at the sheer surreal ridiculousness of the situation. This is usually covered by Ava’s slavishly devoted and scene-stealing assistant, Missy (Jennifer Hall). But my favorite instance of that is probably Ava’s wayward romance/early 90’s musical partnership with ex BRo (played by The Lonely Island’s Jorma Tacome) which features lyrics such as “Girl, ostensibly speaking, if you were to focus group this relationship, it would test well in every demographic.”  Seriously. The glory really has to be seen to be understood:

Up All Night isn’t a riotous knee-slapper (for the most part), but neither is it just warm and fuzzy. It’s a feel-good comedy with a bit of a bite — like, if it were food, it’d be beef stew instead of mac and cheese. Not that there’s anything wrong with mac and cheese, but the show is a lot less cheese, a lot more meat, and still comforting and delicious.

You can vote up to ONCE a day for 3 shows. The poll closes on Sunday, 12/4 at Midnight ET.

Clacked by Julia Hass
on Nov 29, 2011 @ 10:00 EST5EDT